Research

Design without research is guesswork—and, while I’m a pretty lucky person, I’d rather not take my chances when it comes to the things that matter most. So whether it’s informal user interviews, structured lab work, or playtesting a board game, I like to build a foundation of research-based insights that inform my design decisions.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Gamification, Artificial Intelligence, Tech Ethics, Education, Climate

Research Projects

  • Designed concepts, mechanics, and visual content for an NSF-funded video game designed to educate communities on climate disaster readiness and wildfire preparedness. Conducted user research to inform design decisions. Prepared mock-ups and presented concepts to the broader grant team, helping shape the final game, culminating in a research paper. Assistant to a cross-UC team & the only undergraduate.

    MAY 2023 - PRESENT

  • Conducted user research & literature review for a new, AI-powered B2B ethics tool. Interviewed academics about their ethical practices, concerns, and responsibilities. Founding member of a small team.

    AUG 2023 - FEB 2023

  • Conducted studies with children to test the effectiveness of an educational math game. Studied how socioeconomic status impacts childhood executive function development. Developed R script to track and compare study participant recruitment numbers. Research assistant.

    MAY 2023 - SEP 2023

  • Independent project, with faculty oversight. Designed, tested, and prototyped an interactive board game to educate high schoolers about the economic factors influencing climate change, culminating in a presentation at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Conference.

    SEP 2022 - MAY 2023

Publications

Johns, M.J. et al. (2024). Participatory Design of a Serious Game to Improve Wildfire Preparedness with Community Residents and Experts. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Vol. 201, pp. 1–8). CHI ’24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3650735

Presentations

This Game Is Dying: Addressing Climate Change through Board Games. Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference, UC Davis.